Agree with that - with one caveat for the friend bit: assuming the friends know what s/he is doing. Otherwise it is very easy to pick up some bad habits and because they have been 'taught' it can be particularly hard to unlearn them.

OP try to schedule a private lesson with an instructor that does or has done both ski and board. They will be able to point out differences that you need to pay attention to...you already know terrain, snow, slope, edge management and design (flex, side cut...etc)...so it will be mostly body mechanics. My daughter skis, boards and dh bikes and she notes there are lots of similarities between the 3 and its just transferring similar concepts to a slightly different movement.

I think one of these days I am gonna ask everyone to give me a week at camp for xmas or a nice set of lessons at Woodward or something. I've never taken any for any of the boardsports and it would sure be eye opening and maybe correct some basic failhards. Or treat meself

__________________
Support Local Business
"Shop Smart. Shop S-Mart!" - Ash

In my personal experience a 2 hour 1 on 1 lesson could progress you as fast as a week long group one, so it should be a no brainer. You have two days, make the time count.

Even if you can pick up the basics fast on your own (and some of them are counterintuitive), there are many subtleties of technique. You can get away with many of the bad habits that it's easy to fall into but they will ultimately limit your riding after a certain level.

With only 2 days on the mountain this season, I don't think that a lesson will make a whole lot of difference.

Your wakeboarding background will help a bit, but you will still spend your first day falling on your tuckus until your brain learns how to discern which points of balance in which context will make you fall/turn/stop/do a 720 cork/whatever.

Presuming you've figured out how to (more or less) stop and turn on your first day, your second day will be spent trying to link some/all of the above and getting used to skooching/skating on one leg.... or doing drills if that is your thing.

I don't think you'll get anything out of a lesson at this point that you would not get watching a good instructional video and going to the hill with a plan.

Unlike many of the regular posters on the forum, i am a self taught snowboarder and I did it 3-4 days at a time per trip, taking 1 or 2 trips per year. My first snowboarding trip ever was a 3-day trip to Snow King & Jackson Hole, where the only time I spent on a green was to get back to the lift. Blues and (a few) blacks were what I learned on.

While I agree that a lesson would have eased my learning curve (if not my very sore muscles), I wouldn't have retained much 'muscle memory' from a lesson at that stage without any kind of foundation.

As soon as I figured out the basics of how to (albeit, crappily) link a turn on one side... I sat down at a mid-slope lodge and spent about 15-20 minutes just watching more experienced snowboarders as they came down the same slope I was training myself on (some better than others).

I would save the lesson for a season when you have more time on the hill. I think that you will get much more out of a private lesson if you can already stop, turn, and skate one-legged on a board. Doing this will leave enough time for instruction and work on leaning, body position, proper weighting, etc.... and it will actually stick.

IMO, the best advice you could get at this point is making sure you have good boots, comfortable bindings, and a board that will lend itself to easy learning.

If you are a skier already, the you already know the basics... you just need to teach your body how they apply sideways with your legs tethered down.

Anyways, that is my opinion and I am sure that about a dozen snow bums will chime in to tell me why I don't know what I'm talking about

Oh, last bit of advice... stay TF out of the park for your first few days!

__________________
Read on another forum: "If someone held a gun to my head and said, "You have to move to Salida tomorrow", I'd probably do it. If they told me I had to go to Breckenridge instead, I think I'd just let them pull the trigger."

With only 2 days on the mountain this season, I don't think that a lesson will make a whole lot of difference.

Your wakeboarding background will help a bit, but you will still spend your first day falling on your tuckus until your brain learns how to discern which points of balance in which context will make you fall/turn/stop/do a 720 cork/whatever.

Presuming you've figured out how to (more or less) stop and turn on your first day, your second day will be spent trying to link some/all of the above and getting used to skooching/skating on one leg.... or doing drills if that is your thing.

I don't think you'll get anything out of a lesson at this point that you would not get watching a good instructional video and going to the hill with a plan.

Unlike many of the regular posters on the forum, i am a self taught snowboarder and I did it 3-4 days at a time per trip, taking 1 or 2 trips per year. My first snowboarding trip ever was a 3-day trip to Snow King & Jackson Hole, where the only time I spent on a green was to get back to the lift. Blues and (a few) blacks were what I learned on.

While I agree that a lesson would have eased my learning curve (if not my very sore muscles), I wouldn't have retained much 'muscle memory' from a lesson at that stage without any kind of foundation.

As soon as I figured out the basics of how to (albeit, crappily) link a turn on one side... I sat down at a mid-slope lodge and spent about 15-20 minutes just watching more experienced snowboarders as they came down the same slope I was training myself on (some better than others).

I would save the lesson for a season when you have more time on the hill. I think that you will get much more out of a private lesson if you can already stop, turn, and skate one-legged on a board. Doing this will leave enough time for instruction and work on leaning, body position, proper weighting, etc.... and it will actually stick.

IMO, the best advice you could get at this point is making sure you have good boots, comfortable bindings, and a board that will lend itself to easy learning.

If you are a skier already, the you already know the basics... you just need to teach your body how they apply sideways with your legs tethered down.

Anyways, that is my opinion and I am sure that about a dozen snow bums will chime in to tell me why I don't know what I'm talking about

Oh, last bit of advice... stay TF out of the park for your first few days!

I find it hard to agree with this advice. Why spend 2 days falling over and teaching yourself bad habits you'll probably never undo, when you can be linking turns by lunchtime on the first day and be taught good technique while you're a 'blank canvas'??

Okay, I am only going to get two days on the slopes this year. I am a good skier but have never snowboarded. I wake board and wake surf regularly and I usually pick up new sports easily. My question is, is it better to spend a half day taking a lesson or just picking up and learning by doing? I have never taken a lesson for any sport but I want to make the most of my two days and if that means a half day lesson will make the rest of the time better, then that is what I will do.

Also, I will probably buy a board and bindings since I expect to spend most time on the slopes in the future on a snowboard. Any feedback on boards and bindings will be appreciated. FYI, I am 6'4" and 220 lbs.

Thanks

Take a lesson. While it is true naturally athletic people can pick up the sport through trial and error. Why not stop that trial and error and get right to the point of the how and why of snowboarding? I learnt without lessons and rode for three - four years prior to becoming an instructor. I have absolutely no illusions about the benefit of instruction. My own personnal riding and understanding of snowboard during my new hire process improved my riding ten-fold let alone all the training, and practice that I have gotten since then. A lesson isn't just about learning how to ride, but why what you do makes you successful or not. Once you have that basics, progression is incredibly faster.

As far as board suggestions RENT.. For only having two days unless money is no object purchasing equipment probably isn't worth it.
For boards I'm 6'0" and 220ish size 13 feet. I'm guessing your foot size is eleven or better at least. This means regardless if you rent or buy get a board probably no shorter then a 159cm. It should also be a wide board. I would suggest based of your height a stance width no narrower then 23" inches and normal beginner duck stance of 12 front and -6 back. Look for board and bindings that fall in the medium flex range i.e. 5-7 out of ten. At this point an all mountain deck is alright until you figure out the style of snowboarding you want to ride.

Last edited by gjsnowboarder; 11-28-2012 at 11:53 PM.
Reason: addition for equipment.

Iv`e got a much better idea that is a win win for both of us. You fly your ass up to Mt. Hood where we actually have some snow (not great yet but better than you have). You buy my food and beer for the day and I will give you full day private coaching....

I skied up until last season when I decided to snowboard. For some reason I decided early on that I would try to learn on my own (being the smart cookie I am -_-) so I watched a whole bunch of Youtube videos online.
The first day went great and I went once every weekend for a month last year. On the fourth/last day I was able to go on the black diamonds. Keep in mind that I live in Illinois where black diamonds aren't steep.
My favorite videos:
The Snowprofessor series
Snowolf's series
How to Snowboard the Definitive Guide (it looks outdated but it's one video and it's very informative)

But if you have the money you should definitely get the private lessons if you only have two days.